Wild meats eaten by ancient hunters contained healthier fats
than modern farmed cattle, claims Lauren Cordain of
Colorado State University. He and his colleagues have shown
that meat from wild elk, deer and antelope contain more
beneficial types of fat than meat from today?s grain-fed
cattle.
Cordain and his team compared the muscle, brain, bone
marrow and fat of wild animals with those of cattle. A wild
steak has 2 per cent total fat, as opposed to the 5-7 per cent
in lean beef. Wild meat also contains more omega-3 fatty
acids, which are present in oily fish and have been linked to
a reduced risk of heart disease. Meat from pasture-grazed
cattle resemble wild meat more closely than did meat from
cows that were intensively raised on grains such as corn and
sorghum. Cordain says, ?We should try and raise our meat so
it emulates wild meat.?
Before the advent of agriculture, humans ate whatever meat
and fish they could catch, plus seeds and plants that they
gathered. Returning to this old way of eating might help to
fight the global spread of obesity and associated diseases.
Cordain is one of several researchers who recommends the
palaeolithic diet that mimics the way hunter-gatherers ate.
This rules out farmed foods such as dairy products, refined
cereals, added fats and salt. Instead, we should eat lean
meat, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables. The best parts of the
meat are the oily brain and bone marrow, since these are
rich in healthy fats.
Palaeodiet advocates think that humans evolved to eat and
live as hunter-gatherers did, and have not had time to adapt
to the modern lifestyle of factory foods. ?We believe there?s a
discordance between environmental conditions we were
selected for and those we live in now,? says Cordain.
The theory is based on studies of contemporary hunter-
gatherer societies. Staffan Lindeberg of Lund University in
Sweden found that islanders in Papua New Guinea who eat
yams, fruit, fish and coconut rarely suffer from heart
disease. ?The best diet for us now would be something
similar to this,? he believes.
But existing hunter-gatherer societies do not always
represent past ones, argues anthropologist Stanley Ulijaszek
of the University of Oxford in the U.K. Past populations living
in different parts of the world had very different diets --
Inuits (eskimos) might have eaten meat exclusively, while
others may have lived mainly on vegetables.
But even though the exact proportions cannot be specified,
the principle of eliminating agricultural products is
nonetheless sound, argues Lindeberg. He is starting to test
whether this diet can reduce the incidence of Western killers
such as heart disease and diabetes.
However, ?You have to exercise like our ancestors too,? says
Barry Bogin, who studies anthoropology and obesity at the
University of Michigan in Dearborn. He feels we cannot adapt
this diet to feed the world?s population, and says, ?There?s no
way you can support six billion people on that kind of diet.?
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